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Towns & Parishes

 

FLINTSHIRE

"The County of FLINT is 40 Miles in Circumference, contains about 160000 Acres, and is divided into 12 Hundreds in which are 3 Market Towns & only Flint the County Town sends a Member to Parliament; has 28 Parishes & about 3150 Houses. The Air is good but pleasant, somewhat cold by reason of the North Wind. The Soil is not so mountainous as in other parts of Wales, for here are many Valleys and Cornfields, loaden with Wheat, Barley, Pease, Oats, &c. Its cheif commodities are Cattle, Butter, Cheese, Pit-Coal, Lead, Milstones, and Honey, with which they make Metheglin."  [Emanuel Bowen, Britannia Depicta, 1720]

INFORMATION RELATED TO ALL OF FLINTSHIRE

Map showing counties 

 

Click here for 1833 Map
 Copied from the original in "A Topographical Dictionary of Wales" by Samuel Lewis 1833

After having survived for almost seven centuries, the historic county of Flintshire was abolished in the controversial re-organisation of 1974, and was absorbed into the newly created county of Clwyd.
Ironically, the county of Clwyd was itself abolished on 31st March 1996, after a brief existence of twenty-two years. At the same time, four new "unitary" authorities were created. These were given the names: Flintshire, Denbighshire, Wrexham County Borough and Conwy County Borough.
It is important to realise that the boundaries of the "new" Flintshire and Denbighshire are considerably different from those of the historic counties of the same names.
Fortunately, family historians have been little affected by these changes; because throughout the short lifetime of the county of Clwyd, records for historic Flintshire remained at the Hawarden branch of the Clwyd Record Office, while records for historic Denbighshire remained at the Ruthin branch. These two offices have now become the county Record Offices for "new" Flintshire and "new" Denbighshire respectively. The County Archivists have stated that they do not expect that there will be any major movement of records between the two Record Offices.

In these GENUKI pages, all references to Flintshire (unless specifically stated otherwise) apply to the historic (pre-1974) county - i.e. Chapman County Code FLN.

 

Archives and Libraries

  1. Flintshire Record Office,
    The Old Rectory,
    Hawarden,
    Flintshire.
    CH5 3NR.
    E-mail: archives@flintshire.gov.uk
     
  2. A small number of records relating to Flintshire may also be found at:
    Denbighshire Record Office / Archifdy Sir Ddinbych
    and at
    Wrexham Archives Service / Gwasanaeth Archifau Wrecsam
     
  3. Flintshire Library & Information Service,
    @nswers centre
    Mold Library and Museum
    Earl Road
    Mold
    Flintshire
    CH7 1AP
    Tel 01352 754791
    E-mail: libraries@flintshire.gov.uk

     

  4. Gladstone's Library
    Hawarden,
    Flintshire.
    CH5 3DF.
    E-mail; enquiries@gladlib.org

    (St. Deiniol's Residential Library) was founded in 1889 by the Rt. Hon. W.E. Gladstone; and the magnificent building which now houses the Library was erected as a national memorial to him. Mr Gladstone intended that the library should be "a haven where men and women of 'any faith or none' could stay to read and study". It is believed to be the only one of its kind in the world.

Bibliography

Flintshire - Bibliography - Books of General Interest for Family Historians.

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Cemeteries

Flintshire County Council is responsible for the administration of 14 public cemeteries located in "new" Flintshire (created 1996). There is more information about each cemetery on the appropriate parish page. The cemeteries are: These cemeteries are open from 8.00 a.m. until sunset; and there are full time Sextons at Connah's Quay, Hawarden and Hope. The burial registers are held at the following address, to which all enquiries should be addressed:
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Census

Flintshire Record Office holds microfilms of the original census returns for the whole of the former county of Clwyd (which includes "old" Flintshire), and for some adjoining areas, from 1841 to 1891. There are occasional gaps, particularly in 1861. For a few parishes, lists of names which were made in connection with the census returns prior to 1841 have survived, and have been deposited in the Record Office.
Members of Clwyd FHS participated in the 1881 Census project - in fact, the first counties to be published were Flintshire and Denbighshire, in 1991. Copies of the microfiche for Flintshire and Denbighshire are held at Flintshire Record Office, and at many LDS Centres.
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Church History

Welsh Chapels & Churches  - on Jill Muir's site

You may also find it worthwhile searching in the GENUKI church database.

 

Church Records

Historically, the (Anglican) Church in Wales was an integral part of the Church of England - i.e. the "Established" Church. Its influence declined during the nineteenth century, when a considerable proportion of the people of Wales - perhaps more than half - became adherents of the various nonconformist denominations; and eventually, in 1920, following many decades of religious and political debate, and intermittent civil disturbances, the Church in Wales ( not"Church ofWales") was disestablished and disendowed - i.e. it ceased to be the "State" or "Established" Church.

Because of this, the Parochial Registers and Records Measure of 1978, regarding the care of parish records of the Church of England, does not apply to Wales.

However - in 1944, the Representative Body of the Church in Wales showed considerable foresight, by making an agreement with the National Library of Wales whereby various Church records would be deposited in the Library; and in 1976, the Representative Body reached an agreement with the majority of the Welsh counties, which designated the county Record Offices as additional suitable repositories. The Archbishop of Wales issued instructions as to which records should be deposited, and appointed Diocesan Advisors to ensure that his instructions were followed. Virtually all parish registers for Flintshire (with the obvious exception of those in current use), together with various other records, have now been deposited in Flintshire Record Office and/or the National Library of Wales.
Contrary to erroneous statements which have appeared in a recently published reference work, the records which have been deposited do include almost all the surviving registers of the parishes of Maelor Saesneg ("Flintshire detached").

Members of the public are not normally allowed to handle the original registers. The policy of the Flintshire Record Office is to microfilm the registers on receipt; and members of the public are expected to use copies of these microfilms, rather than the original registers, in the Record Office searchrooms.

Clwyd Family History Society has published full transcriptions, with indexes, of all the parish registers of Flintshire, up to 1812 (and in a few cases, up to 1837 and beyond). Copies of all the transcribed parish registers published by Clwyd FHS are available for study at the Flintshire Record Office.

Family Search UK/Ireland  - Historical Record Collections 
IGI Batch Numbers - Hugh Wallis's site  and Archer Software's site  

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Civil Registration

Here is detailed information about the "historic" Registration Districts for Flintshire, which came into being on 1 July 1837.

Here are the addresses, telephone numbers, opening hours, etc. of the present-day Registration Districts which hold records for "pre-1974" Flintshire.

North Wales BMD is an on-going project which aims to provide an easy search facility via the Internet for births, marriages and deaths recorded in the North Wales Register Offices between 1837 and 1950; and to enable researchers to order copies of the certificates from the local Register Offices.

See also the Parish pages - there is Civil Registration information on each Parish page.

For searching "further afield", Brett Langston has provided details of all the Registration Districts of England and Wales, from 1837 to 1946

Barbara Dixon (who is a Superintendent Registrar) has compiled an excellent Tutorial about Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates in England and Wales.
(Note - you will leave the "GENUKI environment" when you link to this Tutorial).

Description and Travel

Kain, R.J.P., Oliver, R.R., Historic Parishes of England and Wales: an Electronic Map of Boundaries before 1850 with a Gazetteer and Metadata [computer file]. Colchester, Essex: History Data Service, UK Data Archive [distributor], 17 May 2001. SN: 4348.   Here is a gazetteer/finding aid plus a set of overview maps to accurately identify the position of parishes within the county

Flintshire - on wikipedia

Flintshire County Council

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Directories

Flintshire Record Office has microfilms and facsimiles (i.e. bound photocopies) of the following representative selection of directories:
Year Publisher Area covered
1822 Pigot Denbighshire, Flintshire and Montgomeryshire
1828 / 1829 Pigot North Wales
1835 Pigot North Wales
1840 Robson North Wales
1844 Slater North Wales
1850 Slater North Wales
1856 Slater North Wales
1859 J. Jones Wrexham
1868 Slater North Wales
1874 Worrall Chester and North Wales
1876 Cassey Chester and North Wales
1881 / 1882 Crocker Wrexham
1883 Slater North Wales
1886 Porter
(Postal Directory)		 Denbighshire and Flintshire
1889 / 1890 Sutton Chester and North Wales
1895 Slater North Wales
1913 / 1914 Bennett Chester and North Wales
1922 Bennett Chester and North Wales
1932 Cope North Wales
1936 Bennett Chester and North Wales

Over 33,000 names of persons listed as living in North-East Wales have been extracted from these directories; and indexed in the general index of persons which is held in the Record Office.

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Gazetteers

Search the GENUKI Gazetteer.

Genealogy

Graham Jaunay's Welsh Names Research Directory covers this county.

Here are details of the Genealogy Mailing Lists serving the Welsh counties

John Ball's Welsh Family History Archive provides some very useful material and links for those with Welsh ancestry.

Timeline of genealogically interesting dates by Gareth Hicks

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History

The County of Flint came into existence in 1284, when following many years of warfare, Edward I proclaimed the Statute of Wales at Rhuddlan. At that time, the new county consisted of three separate areas, which were Englefield, Hopedale and Maelor Saesneg.
In 1536, Henry VIII passed the Act of Union, which decreed that Wales should be incorporated into the kingdom of England. He also decreed that all areas of land which had not, until then, been included in a county should either be made into counties, or be added to existing counties. Following this decree, the lordships of Mold and Hawarden, which had separated Englefield from Hopedale for two and a half centuries, were initially added to Denbighshire. However, in 1541, it was realised that this was an unsatisfactory arrangement, and these lordships were transferred to Flintshire. The two small townships of Marford and Hoseley, to the north-east of Wrexham, became a detached section of Flintshire. Maelor Saesneg remained as the other detached section.
With minor adjustments, this was the format of Flintshire for the next 435 years, until the "reorganisation" of 1974.
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Maps

Flintshire Record Office has a computerised catalogue of estate maps, from the early seventeenth to the late nineteenth century, which is available for reference in the search room. It includes over 900 entries. Separate lists and indexes of tithe and enclosure maps are available.

On Clwyd FHS's site there is a diagram showing parish names/positions with links to pages for the parish church

Kain, R.J.P., Oliver, R.R., Historic Parishes of England and Wales: an Electronic Map of Boundaries before 1850 with a Gazetteer and Metadata [computer file]. Colchester, Essex: History Data Service, UK Data Archive [distributor], 17 May 2001. SN: 4348.   Here is a gazetteer/finding aid plus a set of overview maps to accurately identify the position of parishes within the county

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Merchant Marine

Flintshire Record Office holds Shipping Records from 1863 to 1913, which include lists of the crews of ships trading from Flintshire ports on the River Dee. Two bound volumes of indexes to these records (about 30,000 names) are available.
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Military Records

Flintshire Record Office has a card index, known as the County of Flint War Memorial, which gives details of more than 10,600 Flintshire men who served in the armed forces during the First World War. For each man, the index has his home address, his unit, rank and number. The index may also provide further details such as postings, wounds, and (if he was killed in action) the circumstances, the place of burial, etc.

Clwyd FHS - War Memorials

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Names, Geographical

Clwyd FHS - Local Place Names

Names, Personal

Flintshire Record Office has a printout of its computer-based general index of persons. The references in this index, in general, point to a further set of lists and / or indexes, which in turn point to the original source. (Names of persons in parish registers are not included).
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Newspapers

Daily Post - Flintshire

The Leader Local Newspapers;
The following newspapers may be viewed at Flintshire Record Office:

Name of Newspaper Microfilm Original documents
Alyn and Deeside Observer None 1975 (March to December)
Chester Chronicle 1807 - 1909
1935 - 1945
1972		 None
Colwyn Bay Weekly News /
North Wales Weekly News		 1889 (part) - 1906 None
County Herald 1887 - 1896
1898 - 1910
1912 - 1945
1951 - 1955		 1923 - 1949
County Leader None 1908 (September)
Deeside Advertiser None 1971 - 1984
Evening Leader None 1973 - 1986
Flintshire Leader None 1953 - 1958
Flintshire News None 1909 - 1913
Flintshire Observer 1857 - 1895
1897 - 1915
1919 (part)
1920 - 1922
1924 - 1939
1943
1946
1948 - 1964 (part)		 1904 - 1912
1918
1923
1933 - 1947 (with gaps)
Mining Journal 1845 - 1853
1857 - 1872		 None
Mold and Buckley Advertiser None 1973 - 1975
Mold, Deeside and Buckley Leader
(mostly Wrexham coverage)		 1923 - 1936 1948 - 1952
Prestatyn Weekly 1908 - 1933
1939 - 1944
1946
1948 - 1949		 None
Rhyl Journal 1925 - 1926 1925 - 1974
1976 - 1983
Rhyl Leader None 1949 - 1956
Rhyl Observer None 1923 - 1924
Rhyl Record and Advertiser /
Rhyl Record and Visitor		 1855 - 1869
1875 - 1911
1913 - 1921		 None
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Occupations

Victorian Professional Photographers in Wales 1850-1925 - a county based database compiled by Mari Alderman, includes sources and a bibliography

Periodicals

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Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

Poor Law Unions - Clwyd FHS The Workhouse  - on Peter Higginbotham's site

The records of the Holywell and St. Asaph poor law Unions, from 1837 to 1930, are held at Flintshire Record Office. They include registers of admissions and discharges, and of births and deaths. The records of the Hawarden Union, from 1853 to 1930, are also at the Record Office, but they are much less complete.

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Population

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Probate Records

Flintshire Record Office has microfiche copies of the Calendars of Grants of Probate for England and Wales, from 1858 to 1935.
Most probate records for Flintshire, for the years prior to 1858, are to be found in the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth. Indexes, and in some cases, copies, are held in Flintshire Record Office.
The parish of Hawarden was an ecclesiastical "peculiar", and had the power to grant probate. The majority of its original wills, administrations and inventories (from 1554 to 1858) are held in the National Library of Wales. An index is available at Flintshire Record Office.
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Schools

Flintshire Record Office holds many records of former British, National, Board and Council schools. Those of most interest to family historians are the admission registers, which were kept from the mid-nineteenth century, giving the names and dates of birth of the pupils, and the names and addresses of the parents. Although a considerable number of these registers have been deposited, some are known to be in private hands.
Many log books have also been deposited. These were required to be kept by head teachers from 1862, and sometimes provide information on individual pupils. (Access may be restricted).
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Societies

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Voting Registers

Flintshire Record Office holds copies of the Electoral Registers for Flintshire, from 1912. The earlier registers, with a few exceptions, were destroyed during the First World War.

When consulting the Electoral Registers, it should be noted that they refer to Urban Districts, Rural Districts and "Civil Parishes", which were created during the late Victorian period - and which, in general, no longer exist. In some cases, the names chosen for these administrative units were those of the old "townships"; but as these were somewhat loosely defined, it is advisable to ask the Record Office staff for advice before searching through the Electoral Registers.

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The GENUKI Flintshire pages are maintained by Gareth Hicks. Help and information has been provided by a number of assistants.
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